The invention relates to a handle for a hockey stick.
Hockey sticks have an overall shape which has changed very little since the game was first played although the materials from which sticks are made have changed, from wood to aluminum to carbon fiber and other composites. A conventional hockey stick comprises a substantially flat blade having a heel and a toe, and a straight shaft which is substantially rectangular in cross-section. The shaft extends from the heel of the blade and is substantially coplanar with the blade, a longitudinal axis of the shaft being disposed at an obtuse angle to a longitudinal axis of the blade. Being such a simple device, there is little room for user customization or adjustment. A player can select a stick from a variety of sticks offering a range of shaft stiffnesses, blade curvatures and blade-to-shaft angles. The top of the shaft is typically cut off to adjust shaft length.
In use, the stick is held with both hands spaced apart on the shaft, one hand above the other. The upper hand is placed in an overhand grip and is generally at or near the limit of the range of wrist motion while the lower hand is placed in an underhand grip. Force applied to the shaft is transmitted to the blade along the longitudinal axis of the shaft. By rotating the wrists, the blade is caused to rotate about the axis of the shaft, that is about the heel of the blade. When moving with the puck, the player usually wants to keep the puck near the middle of the blade. However, because the axis of rotation of the stick is at the heel of the blade and not in the middle of the blade adjacent the puck, puck control is not optimal. Rotating the blade has the effect of moving the puck to the heel of the blade which can cause the player to lose control of the puck.
There have been attempts to improve upon the design of conventional hockey sticks. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,961, Clement Kraemer discloses a handle which is insertable into the shaft of a hockey stick and axially aligned therewith. The Kraemer handle is capable of rotating about the shaft axis to change the angle that the blade of the stick forms with a playing surface, permitting improved elevational control of a puck. However, force is still applied through an axis which runs through the shaft of the stick and through the heel of the blade.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,753, Gerald F. Gibbons discloses a hockey stick handle which is attachable to an end of a conventional straight hockey stick shaft and is disposed at a fixed angle to a longitudinal axis of the hockey stick shaft. The applicant believes that a fixed angle handle having the range of angles disclosed by Gibbons will cause the axis of applied force to intersect the axis of the blade at a point beyond the toe of the blade for most practical shaft lengths, resulting in nonoptimal puck control.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,038,719, John F. Bennett discloses an angled handle for tools and sporting equipment in which the handle is inclined at a fixed angle with respect to a main axis of the tool.
What would be beneficial is a hockey stick which has a handle or grip portion which can be inclined at an angle to a longitudinal axis of the hockey stick to permit the customization of the hockey stick so that the axis of applied force extends through a point on the blade appropriate to an individual's preferences. It would also be beneficial if such a handle could be rotated with respect to the shaft axis to improve elevational control of a puck. Such a handle would align the wrist of the user's upper hand with his forearm, giving the user a greater range of motion and a more powerful shot.